I've always found it funny that the whole black mesa event happened to begin with. I mean, Lambda labs had a working teleporter that they used regularly, don't you think when they caught word of sector c's tests, the would have been like: "Hey don't fuck around with that xen crystal stuff. Shits volatile yo."

The crystal that the G-Man brought in was different from the other ones probably.
And because you were the one who put the crystal into the machine in the first place, All of the grunts who were sent to Black Mesa think the entire thing is your fault. (They actually think you did it on purpose as sabotage)

I've always found it funny that the whole black mesa event happened to begin with. I mean, Lambda labs had a working teleporter that they used regularly, don't you think when they caught word of sector c's tests, the would have been like: "Hey don't fuck around with that xen crystal stuff. Shits volatile yo."

Naw, they were getting aware of the fact that the crystals stored immense amounts of energy, which is why they needed to analyse it in Sector C. G-man gave them a botched version, somehow powerful enough to create a dimensional rift on its own, and shit hit the fan.

The crystal that the G-Man brought in was different from the other ones probably.
And because you were the one who put the crystal into the machine in the first place, All of the grunts who were sent to Black Mesa think the entire thing is your fault. (They actually think you did it on purpose as sabotage)

No I mean Lambda labs, they guys who have a working teleporter to xen, who are around this stuff all the time, didn't think to mention to sector c that just shoving a huge sample of xen crystal into something designed to funnel energy into it, was a BAD idea?

No I mean Lambda labs, they guys who have a working teleporter to xen, who are around this stuff all the time, didn't think to mention to sector c that just shoving a huge sample of xen crystal into something designed to funnel energy into it, was a BAD idea?

They've done it before. When one of the scientists says 'this is the purest sample we've seen yet' it implies they routinely analyze Xen crystals this way.

No I mean Lambda labs, they guys who have a working teleporter to xen, who are around this stuff all the time, didn't think to mention to sector c that just shoving a huge sample of xen crystal into something designed to funnel energy into it, was a BAD idea?

The different sections weren't just working on whatever they could get their hands on, Breen (and sub-admins, probably) would be the ones arranging the different experiments. It's not even certain that the experiment would have gone wrong if they hadn't been delivered a rigged sample by G-man.

Why is everyone saying that G-Man intentionally caused the resonance cascade with a rigged sample? When was this confirmed?

It's actually only implied that it was rigged. Eli says that the sample they used in the anti-mass spectrometer was delivered by the G-man, who whispered (that's pretty sinister right) to him "Prepare for unforeseen consequences."

I don't know if it was actually modified by the g-man, or if he just strolled to Xen and found a really potent crystal, but the resonance cascade was definitely intentional.

I kinda wish they redid the old vortigaunt sounds. In the first one I thought of them just as weird, creepy aliens but all I think of when I kill them now is all that praise they gave the freeman (and of the black guy doing their voices). Almost makes me feel like in HL2 they shouldn't be praising him so much.

I kinda wish they redid the old vortigaunt sounds. In the first one I thought of them just as weird, creepy aliens but all I think of when I kill them now is all that praise they gave the freeman (and of the black guy doing their voices). Almost makes me feel like in HL2 they shouldn't be praising him so much.

They're enslaved though. Notice how they're all wearing these green metal shackles? And how the Vortigaunts in HL2 don't, except that one by the trainstation who is sweeping the platform floor while the Combine soldiers watch? Yeah.

Hm, Nihilanth's chamber is actually pretty humble for the leader of Xen. Just a huge cave with spikes.

Nihilanth is enslaved just like the Vorts; he wears metal shackles, propped up on a floating device and trapped in a chamber without escape. Come to think of it, the surgery marks on his belly, his unnatural anatomy and the metal parts attached to him makes him seem like a synth (bio-engineered creature filled with machinery). The Combine is nose-deep into everything relating to the resonance cascade, they just aren't named.

Edited:

Also regarding the Vortigaunts praising you, they do have one rather interesting line that goes something like "We cannot forget those whose cords you severed. Forgiveness is not ours to bestow". While you slaughtered them by the hundreds while they were enslaved, you ended up liberating their entire race in the end by killing Nihilanth, so them respecting you makes some sense after all.

Nihilanth is enslaved just like the Vorts; he wears metal shackles, propped up on a floating device and trapped in a chamber without escape. Come to think of it, the surgery marks on his belly, his unnatural anatomy and the metal parts attached to him makes him seem like a synth (bio-engineered creature filled with machinery). The Combine is nose-deep into everything relating to the resonance cascade, they just aren't named.

I'm not sure if I'm right about this, it's mostly pieced together from different sources. I thought Nihilanth escaped the Combine and went to Xen. Those shackles are just a reminder he was a slave to control lesser slaves. And about the Resonance Cascade. I thought that was move by the Gman. Nihilanth's safe haven was revealed and he could no longer hide from the Combine because such an event could not go unnoticed by them. He then decided to take over Earth maybe because it would make a better battlefield.

Nihilanth is enslaved just like the Vorts; he wears metal shackles, propped up on a floating device and trapped in a chamber without escape. Come to think of it, the surgery marks on his belly, his unnatural anatomy and the metal parts attached to him makes him seem like a synth (bio-engineered creature filled with machinery). The Combine is nose-deep into everything relating to the resonance cascade, they just aren't named.

We already have it from Marc Laidlaw that the Combine didn't know about Earth until the portal storms that occurred after Nihilanth died. And that Nihilanth was in exile on Xen. Plus, the G-Man orchestrated the entire thing, and he and his employers control Xen by the end of Half-Life.

23rd September 2012
Last edited by Bloodshot12; 23rd September 2012 at 07:58PM.
Post #8944

Oh man, the garg is so awesome. I spawned a ton of marines and a squad leader in the back and then the garg in an open area, and for some reason he decided to kill two guys then focus on killing the leader.

So instead of burning all the marines to a crisp, he literally ran through them all, stepping on them and exploding each of them into a million pieces until he got to the leader and burned him alive :D

Also yeah, I know they are enslaved, forgot about the vortigaunt comment about not forgiving though

Evidently, The original Half Life will start to play random music if you have a CD in the drive when you're playing it. I was confused as hell when I started the tram sequence and started hearing this:

And by the way, I decided to buy the Half Life 1 anthology because I played black mesa.

Don't remember where I got this from but I think much of Black Mesa is an old military installation/ICBM launch facility. I imagine a bit of everything in the facility such as the silos, the rail infrastructure, storage areas and probably much of the computer equipment is from those days.

I think it was mentioned it was from the 50s.

I can't remember anything in HL1 that suggested they were using old equipment (other than Eli's line about the equipment not being meant for what they were using it for) like they are in Black Mesa.

Well the place IS littered with big bulky tape drives, which was used commonly for storage until hard drives became cheaper:

At the same time, they're mostly in the older and/or abandoned parts of the facility.

Speaking of which, am I the only one who is confused about whether or not parts of the "older" facility (esp. a lot of On a Rail, Apprehension, and Blast Pit) are abandoned are not? Sometimes it just seems really confusing to me.

So a friend of mine that never played half life 1 (and in fact has a hatred of valve games purely to spite me ) is trying Black Mesa, and he keeps raging out and getting stuck constantly because "I can't ever fucking tell if doors are locked or not."

So I tell him that most doors that are locked have no handle or, if they're the automated kind, have a red light on them instead of a green one.

So a friend of mine that never played half life 1 (and in fact has a hatred of valve games purely to spite me ) is trying Black Mesa, and he keeps raging out and getting stuck constantly because "I can't ever fucking tell if doors are locked or not."

So I tell him that most doors that are locked have no handle or, if they're the automated kind, have a red light on them instead of a green one.